This invention relates generally to management systems and in particular to management systems of a pharmaceutical working environment.
Pharmacies fill and deliver to customers more than 4 billion prescriptions each year in the United States. The average retail store fills 200-400 customer prescriptions each day. Customers do not necessarily pick up these prescriptions the same day they are filled. Filled prescriptions are typically held for 1-2 weeks or more before returned to stock if not picked up. The will call process and storage bins in retail pharmacies must organize and hold hundreds to thousands of filled prescriptions awaiting pickup. One of the challenges in managing this large volume of filled prescriptions includes the time a cashier spends searching the will call bins for a waiting customer's prescription. This translates into the time customers spend in line waiting to pick their prescriptions and affects customer satisfaction. Errors in filing prescriptions in the wrong bin can lead to misplaced prescriptions that must be refilled while the customer waits, or prolonged time spent searching the store for the prescription.
When customers do not pick up their prescriptions, pharmacies need to retrieve these aged prescriptions from the will call bins to return the unused medications to stock. Locating and retrieving these aged prescriptions from among the hundreds to thousands of packages in the will call bins is a time-consuming process for pharmacy staff.
More efficient and cost effect solutions are needed for the storage and retrieval of filled prescriptions in the retail pharmacy environment.